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I think that all of Patrick's questions regarding the mixing of tech
writing with what we usually think of as marketing tasks (press releases,
etc.) is a good one.
In some of the companies that I have worked in, the tech writer has the
marketing department review the doc prior to publication. Mostly this is
because presumably marketing may know of changes that are coming down the
pike before they even arrive. When that happens, mktg can let the doc
department know of what doc needs to be modified for those changes.
However, I have also worked in companies that had a tech writer as part of
their marketing department. And, just for information, I've not worked in
big companies (i.e., Fortune 500s) as a writer. I would guess that a tech
writer in a marketing dept. is not necessarily a common thing. One company
that I am thinking of had telco products and that could be why they chose
to have a tw in mktg. For that reason, I would guess that you are more
likely to find the mktg/tw kind of mix in a company whose product(s) are
very technical.
Anyway, I posted this just so that Patrick (who I am guessing is a newbie)
could see that it is possible to do tech writing in a marketing dept. and
those kinds of courses in a tw degree are not necessarily bogus.
Kathi Jan Knill
Sr. Technical Writer
Template Software, Inc.
Kathi -dot- Knill -at- Template -dot- com
The art of writing is the art of applying
the seat of the pants to the seat of the chair.
----- Original Message -----
From: Meyers, Patrick (GES SF) <meyerpa -at- exchange -dot- ml -dot- com>
To: TECHWR-L <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Sent: Monday, October 25, 1999 4:36 PM
Subject: Writing press-releases
: How come San Francisco State University's Tech Writing Certification
Program
: includes a course that teaches writers how to write Press Releases?
:
: Is this a tech writing duty, or is this more a copywriter in a marketing
: department duty? Do some programs mix this stuff?
:
: Patrick
:
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